Heat Blamed In 2 Deaths

Forecasters See Relief Near

As the heat sizzled for a third day Wednesday and was blamed with being a contributing factor in at least two deaths, Tina Feigenberg was calling on her customers to come in and smell the roses.

Feigenberg owner of the Chicagoblooms flower shop at 1149 N. State St., placed a sign in the store's window that read, "Come inside and chill with the flowers."

"It (the heat) has deterred a lot business," said Feigenberg who, because of the weather, was forced to move most of her flowers and plants inside the air-conditioned shop.

"Usually, we keep the doors open and place our flowers outside, but it's just too hot for that," she said."A lot of our business comes from walk-by customers, and if they don't see a lot of flowers out, they assume we're closed."

But in addition to missing flowers and plants, there were also grim reminders that the high temperature and heat-index, which reached 104 on Wednesday at O'Hare International Airport, posed potential health dangers for Chicagoland residents

Medical officials said the combination played a role in the deaths of Olea Buckner, 70, of the 1300 block of East 69th Street in Chicago, and of Anthony Guanzi, 72, of the 2900 block of North 72nd Court in Elmwood Park.

In Buckner's case, the primary cause of death was hardening of the arteries, said a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. Heat stroke was a secondary cause, she said. Guanzi's death was attributed to heart disease with heat stress as a contributing factor, the spokeswoman said.

Mayor Richard Daley, Cook County Board President John Stroger and other government leaders encouraged residents to take precautions to avoid heat-related illnesses.

"As the weather gets warmer, people need to remember to take care of themselves and check on elderly relatives and neighbors," Stroger said.

A heat warning that had been declared earlier was canceled by the National Weather Service Wednesday night. During the emergency, more than 25,000 Chicagoans were served by the city's severe weather centers.

According to Daley, who visited the Heat Command Center at 10 S. Kedzie Ave. on Wednesday morning, more than 900 calls over 24 hours were made to the city because of open fire hydrants.

Daley said another 53 calls were made from individuals asking city workers to check on elderly relatives.

"We try to have them check on their own parents, that's basic common sense," Daley said. "We hope that children will drive at least a half-hour to check on their parents. It's the decent thing to do."

But while the extreme weather seemed to some like it would never end, relief appeared to be on the way.

National Weather Service forecasters predicted a cooling trend.

"Later in the week, temperatures will gradually improve," said Ken Kunkel, director of the Midwestern Climate Center in Champaign.

He noted that the current heat wave is not comparable to last summer's scorcher that resulted in more than 700 heat-related deaths.

"The heat is cause for extreme caution, but temperatures were considerably higher last year in the city, lakefront and surrounding suburbs," he said. According to Kunkel, heat indexes for July 1995 exceeded 115 degrees.